to whom I appointed the steppe for its home, the salt wastes as its dwelling place?

Let the desert and dry region be happy; ¹  let the wilderness ²  rejoice and bloom like a lily!

Then they will say, ‘Under these conditions I can enjoy sweet sleep when I wake up and look around.’” ¹ 

Like ¹  wild donkeys in the desert they ²  go out to their labor, ³  seeking diligently for food; the wasteland provides ⁴  food for them and for their children.

The one who lacks wisdom ¹  strikes hands in pledge, ²  and puts up financial security ³  for his neighbor. ⁴ 

They howl in the streets because of what happened to the wine; ¹  all joy turns to sorrow; ²  celebrations disappear from the earth. ³ 

They did not ask: ‘Where is the Lord who delivered us out of Egypt, who brought us through the wilderness, through a land of desert sands and rift valleys, through a land of drought and deep darkness, ¹  through a land in which no one travels, and where no one lives?’ ²